Warriors fans have plenty of questions on the state of the Dubs

Share this:

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 5: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) looks down as they lose 48-73 to the Boston Celtics at the end of the first half of a NBA game at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, March 5, 2019. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

Klay Thompson subscribes. You can too for just 11 cents a day for 11 months + receive a free Warriors Championship book. Sign me up!

OAKLAND — What will it take for the Warriors’ switch to flip? Do they need to simply lift their finger, or they need to fix the power broker?

It’s an interesting question considering the Warriors’ current state of being. On one hand, the Warriors have become used to overcoming regular-season boredom before winning three NBA titles in the past four years. On the other hand, the Warriors’ relative issues go beyond simply trying.

Therefore, Warriors fans have a lot of questions about the Dubs. But first some housekeeping items. After missing the past two games with a sore right knee, Klay Thompson will play when the Warriors (44-20) host the Denver Nuggets (43-21) on Friday at Staples Center. Amid his ongoing learning curve with the team’s offense and defense, DeMarcus Cousins has leaned on Warriors assistant coach Jarron Collins for help. And after the Warriors struggled to find purpose in the regular season, Bay Area News Group’s columnist Dieter Kurtenbach observed that the Warriors want to win now to commemorate the team’s final season in Oakland as well as to secure home-court advantage in the NBA playoffs.

You can send questions for future Warriors mailbags to me on Twitter or by following our coverage via our free email newsletter, Warriors HQ. You can subscribe to the Mercury News or East Bay Times for just 11 cents a day for 11 months + receive a free Warriors Championship book. And you can sign up for my text messaging service here for around-the-clock updates and answers to your Warriors questions sent directly to your phone.

@dkurtenbach Say if Bogut do well when comes back and Damion Jones gets healthy, what is chance Kerr cut Cousins before playoffs and signs Damion Lee as 15th guy? I know that’s a lot of IFs and brutal for Cousins

A lot of ifs and a lot of scenarios that would never happen. The Warriors are not going to cut a four-time All-Star just because he has shown hiccups following a left Achilles tendon injury. Cousins will surely progress in the final 18 regular-season games with his conditioning, post-ups and defensive schemes. Bogut’s presence can help mitigate any weaknesses that Cousins still has. But as a 15th man, Bogut will not be playing the same kind of minutes he enjoyed during his four-year run with the Warriors (2012-16).

What kind of adjustments can the Warriors make to help cousins in pick and roll defense. AND what’s the deal with Kerr subbing Quinn for Steph with only a few minutes left in the first and third?

Cousins can improve his conditioning and awareness on rotations. The Warriors can improve on their collective communication so that they can cover up any breakdowns and prevent a defensive stop toward falling on Cousins. As for what’s the deal with Quinn Cook playing for Stephen Curry the final minutes of the first and third quarters? Warriors coach Steve Kerr also wants Steph to play in the second and fourth quarters without logging him 48 minutes a night.

What’s the reason for Steph no longer playing whole 1st and third quarters?

I remember seeing this somewhere but I think the pulling Steph w a couple min. in the first & third is that you can get more “rest”/inactivity bc of the quarter break w/o sacrificing as many game minutes. You try to get him an extended break wherever you can.

Why isn't Kerr staggering Steph and KD? Our bench is the thinnest it's ever been and having Klay, who isn't the best at creating his own shot, run around like a mad man taking on that scoring load isn't fair to him.

Ever since DeMarcus Cousins entered the lineup, the Warriors have staggered him with the second unit. That way, Steph can maximize his minutes in crunch time. Kerr has paired Klay Thompson with Cousins because he can take advantage of the playmaking that Cousins and Draymond Green make.